


Sacrifices

by necromancy_enthusiast



Series: Necromancy's Custom MU Kaede [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-30
Updated: 2016-06-30
Packaged: 2018-07-19 03:42:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7343353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/necromancy_enthusiast/pseuds/necromancy_enthusiast
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wars can't be fought without sacrifices, but some hit home harder than others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sacrifices

**Author's Note:**

> This was meant to be a sort of 'What if my Conquest avatar sided with Hoshido instead of Nohr' tangent. She married Benny and was good friends with Charlotte, so that's why I'm focusing on them. This is may hurt. A lot. If you want to change my avatar's name to that of yours, there's a browser extension called 'InteractiveFics' by blaringsilence that you can download to do so. Spoilers through Chapter 14 of Birthright ahead.

“Nothing personal...I'll make it quick.”

Kaede looked over the Nohrian border guard just as she did all her opponents. He was a giant of a man, decked out in black knight's armor and wielding a huge spear. He certainly would have the advantage of brute strength, but Kaede was used to being outranked in that regard. She had agility on her side, and despite what many people said of her and how apparently delicate she looked, she could take quite a few blows if need be. All her practice with Xander had assured that she had both the physical and mental fortitude to withstand hits that would knock many others onto their backs.

But there was something else she noticed about him. It wasn't readily obvious at first, since he wore such a fierce expression and would terrify most people pitted against him, but he gripped his spear a little too tight, his eyes were a little too wide, there was a slight uncertainty to his voice. Was he scared?

“...I'm sorry.” Kaede said before moving to get a quick hit on him, but he blocked it expertly with his shield, and she barely managed to move out of the way in time to avoid his spear. She circled around him, looking for weaknesses in his armor. He turned to face her and tried to knock her off her feet with his shield, but she stepped back to avoid it.

“Kaede!” Kaede looked around at the sound of her name to see her elder brother Ryoma running towards her.

“Ryoma! I could use your help!” Kaede called out to him.

“Of course!” he said, maneuvering to face the knight on the opposite side of Kaede, effectively surrounding him.

“Benny!” came a feminine voice, and soon a blonde woman wielding a huge axe came to Benny's side.

“Charlotte...” the Nohrian guard, apparently named Benny, said.

“I just can't leave you alone, can I?” she said, readying her axe.

“Thanks.” Benny replied.

“Yeah yeah, you owe me.” Charlotte said, waving her hand dismissively but smiling slightly. She turned towards Kaede as Benny faced Ryoma, and her expression morphed from a small smirk to an annoyed scowl. “Ugh, what a pain. Don't you know we have better things to do than beat up little girls and lobster lords? We don't just sit around waiting for you to come along and decide you want to invade Nohr.”

“We...Kind of do.” Benny said.

“Oh, you know what I mean!” Charlotte snapped, turning back to Kaede with a grim smile. “Anyway...It would be awfully nice if you would be sweethearts and lay down and die for us!” Charlotte said. Kaede stood tall, Yato firm in hand.

“We can't do that. We have to end this war.” she replied calmly.

“By bringing it onto our turf? Whatever, I guess. Not like it really matters anyway...” Charlotte said, and turned slightly to nod at Benny, who nodded in return.

In unison, Benny and Charlotte bolted towards Ryoma and Kaede respectively.

“'Cause you're not gonna live long enough to see it through!” Charlotte said before attacking Kaede, who managed to block the axe with the broadside of the Yato. Kaede thrust forward, trying to knock Charlotte off balance, but she read Kaede's body language and moved back to avoid the hit before continuing her assault.

The border guards couldn't have been more like night and day. Charlotte was intense, brutal, she never laid off or missed a beat, while Benny was stern and calculating, watching Ryoma with careful discernment, waiting for just the right moment to block and strike. The duels went on for some time, until finally Benny managed to knock Raijinto out of Ryoma's hands. Quickly, he raised the spear above his head.

“...Sorry...” he muttered. What happened next was something of a blur to Kaede, but she reacted instinctively and leaped toward Benny, readying the Yato to strike. Benny hadn't noticed Kaede coming his way, and was thus not prepared to receive her attack. Before anyone really knew what had happened, Kaede's sword was embedded in the side of Benny's neck, lifeblood staining her blade and the white undershirt he wore.

The look of excruciating pain and horror when a mortal wound was inflicted, that Kaede would never, ever get used to. Benny groaned quietly and dropped to his hands and knees, bleeding profusely.

“Benny...Benny?!” came Charlottes's voice. She ran up to Benny before kneeling next to him, shock apparent on her face. “Benny...What are you doing?! You can't just lay down whenever you damn well please! Get up! Benny?!…” she called out, shaking Benny insistently. He looked up and smiled at her weakly.

“I did my best, Charlotte...That's all...I can say...” Benny said quietly before closing his eyes and falling still.

“Benny? BENNY?!” Charlotte screamed, tears welling in her eyes. Her gaze slowly moved from Benny to Kaede, who looked upon the scene in utter horror.

“You...HOW COULD YOU?!” Charlotte said, expression changing from distraught to rage as she gripped her axe with both hands and stood. “You think we're just faceless goons?! That you can just...Take Benny away from the world like that?! I'll kill you...I'LL KILL YOU!” she said, running towards Kaede, who still stood frozen in shock and made no move to block or avoid Charlotte. “I'll-” exactly what Charlotte was going to say next would never be known to the world, because just as she was ready to cleave Kaede's head off, Ryoma stepped in, running Charlotte through with Raijinto. She stood in shock for a short moment, leaning against Ryoma before he removed Raijinto and re-sheathed it, never once looking Charlotte in the eyes. Charlotte crumpled to the ground, coughing up blood as more of it pooled beneath her. She looked up at Kaede one last time, hatred evident in her eyes.

“You...Why did you...Have to come here?...” she managed to choke out before the life left her eyes.

“You must always stay calm and collected on the battlefield, Kaede. She almost took your head.” Ryoma said distantly, sparing Charlotte's body a single glance. “And she would probably still be alive if she hadn't let her anger cloud her judgment.” he finished. Finally, Kaede managed to surface from her shellshocked state.

“How can you...How can you say that?!” Kaede asked. “They...Didn't you see all that?” tears began streaming from her eyes as she sobbed loudly. “They were...People, Ryoma. They had family and friends and...They were just doing their jobs. They probably wanted peace just as much as we do!”

“We've cut down many people before for the sake of peace.” Ryoma replied.

“It's not fair! Why...That man...Benny, I saw something in him.” Kaede started. “He...He was scared, I think. He didn't want to fight. Now I can't help but wonder what they were both like...Who they were...” she tried to look at them, but her grimace grew and she found herself averting her gaze again. “And now I'll never know. Their families will find out one way or another…”

“Kaede...I know it's hard. But every soldier we've defeated, every ally that's fallen, they were the same.”

“I know, I know, but...I've never been faced with it like this before...” she said. Ryoma sighed heavily, putting a hand on his sister's shoulder and looking her in the eyes for the first time since the confrontation ended.

“That's what war is, Kaede. It destroys lives, tears families and friends apart...Why do you think we're fighting so hard to end it?”

“But...Is this really the only way? Can violence only be answered with more violence?”

“...In a perfect world, no. But Garon has crossed that line too many times. Hoshido has been Nohr's victim for long enough.”

“But...Why do people that had nothing to do with it have to get involved? It's not...It's not fair.” Kaede said, wiping the tears away with her sleeve.

“No...It's really not. But that's the way things are right now, even though we're trying to change them. And the more people this war crushes, the harder we have to fight. We'll honor them by obtaining peace, and insuring that this stops happening.”

“I...Can we at least...” Kaede started, but trailed off. She looked around the field and saw a small patch of flowers that somehow managed to remain untainted despite all the bloodshed around them. Kaede walked over to them, dropping to her knees and picking several before standing and slowly moving towards the bodies of the two fallen border guards. She knelt at Charlotte's body first since she was closer, finally forcing herself to look Charlotte over. Charlotte's gaze was frozen in subtle horror, her eyes wide open and staring forward. Gently, Kaede took Charlotte's hand and placed the flowers in it before closing her fingers, still warm, around the delicate flowers, moving the hand to rest next to Charlotte's chest. Kaede stood and reluctantly made her way to Benny, tearing up again as she stood before him.

“I feel like...There's something missing. Something we could have been.” Kaede said as she knelt down. “I just...I know this doesn't mean much, but I'm so, so sorry...” she took his hand and gently placed the flowers in it as she had with Charlotte, closing his fingers around them and placing it on his breastplate. Benny's expression was different from Charlotte's, he had closed his eyes before dying and he almost looked...At peace. Kaede stood and stepped back to look them over again, and after a short while, began to sob loudly. Ryoma stood next to her and put his arm around her, letting her cry for awhile.

“...We still need to claim the fort.” he finally said once she had quieted. “But I sense a dragon vein nearby, and I feel as though that will help us end this battle much more quickly. We're almost done here...”

“But...There will be more bloodshed. More fights, more death...What if...What if we have to fight Xander or Leo or Camilla again? What if...”

“Kaede...Sometimes all we can do is take things one step at a time. Right now, our objective is to take the fort. Then we'll move on from there.” Ryoma offered, and Kaede nodded.

“I suppose...You're right. I just hope that...All this senseless death and war means something in the end.”

“It will, Kaede. We'll make sure it does.”

**Author's Note:**

> It's never directly stated whether or not Benny and Charlotte survived the attack on the Nohrian border in Birthright, but when I was first playing it, I assumed they both died. And they never show up after that, so. I always felt kind of cheated that the story didn't focus more on the minor characters like these two when you have to fight them like this and can't recruit them. I mean, I guess you can't reasonably make the player feel upset about every single character in a game about war, but...Anyway, I'm probably going to think of this fic when I replay Birthright and face off against Benny and Charlotte again. Why do I do this to myself.


End file.
